I could never get too excited about Weiner-gate once I saw that the tweetee was handling all the craziness just fine. That’s the only thing I care about in these ridiculous dust-ups — whether innocent, everyday people are hurt by the excesses of the freak show. I was upset by what happened to Shirley Sherrod, the Frost family, and ACORN, because they were all just regular people, trying to live their lives and do right, and they did nothing wrong to get themselves caught up in the mix of the right-wing hate machine.

Not so with Anthony Weiner. He’s a big boy who courts controversy. If his Twitter account had been hacked, he could have handled that. Turns out it wasn’t, well he can handle this too. I don’t care much about Anthony Weiner’s fee fees. I don’t think he should resign, the same way I didn’t think Chris Lee should have resigned.

People with money and power will be fine. Every now and then, one will run a company into the ground, defrauding investors and employees of billions, and feel so bad that he dies of a broken heart. Still, fuck ’em.

Most people deal with all kinds of humiliation each and every day and they don’t go whining to David Brooks and Peggy Noonan every time someone shits on them. Those are the people I care about, because they don’t have the money/power/media megaphone to shield themselves from the worst of it. When they can’t find a job because serious people think it’s important to try Hooverism again, they feel bad about themselves, not “Paul Krugman said something mean about me” bad, but “I’m a failure who can’t pay his bills” bad. Some may indulge in all kinds of crazy speculation about gold standards and what not, but they’re still mostly powerless people trying to get by, and they’ve mostly been betrayed by DC elites.

I humbly submit that everything about our politics should focus more on these harsh realities and less on the Wenis, the Clenis, and Lindsey Graham’s fee fees. Not because I feel bad for Anthony Weiner or dislike Lindsey Graham, but because I think they can take care of themselves.

Thought I’d give this post the jokiest title I could think of that was relevant, because I know the body of the post borders on sanctimony.

I could never get too excited about Weiner-gate once I saw that the tweetee was handling all the craziness just fine. That’s the only thing I care about in these ridiculous dust-ups—whether innocent, everyday people are hurt by the excesses of the freak show. I was upset by what happened to Shirley Sherrod, the Frost family, and ACORN, because they were all just regular people, trying to live their lives and do right, and they did nothing wrong to get themselves caught up in the mix of the right-wing hate machine.

Is exactly how I’ve been feeling since the Wenis pic came out. what pisses me off more than Weiner being the usual stupid straight male politician, but the idea that people like Sherrod, ACORN, and this tweetee becomes collateral damage for those like BriebARSE who’s sole goal is to piss on his “opponents” anyone who stands in his way can go to shit.

He’s fine. It wasn’t a dumb move because it will cost him re-election – it won’t, not in his district. It’s dumb because he just handed Andrew Breitbart all the legitimacy he’s been looking for over the last 15 years on a platter, and that is going to come back and bite liberals and progressives in the ass big time for decades to come.

Best post about this I’ve seen, sadly I can’t see the MSM caring. People are hurting, worldwide, and no one in the media give a shit. I’m too depressed to be serious about any of this, I’ll just stick to trolling for a while.

btw, in a weird way, doesn’t this work out well for the WH. It takes the MSM eye off the job numbers (which is what the MSM should rightly should be covering, good or bad for WH) and all week the story will be about the Wenis.

What’s the over/under on which reporter in the press pool will ask a Wenis question of the press secretary tomorrow.

Okay, but have you considered that the “innocent, everyday” people who get hurt go much deeper than Cordova, ACORN, etc. to include the people who no longer get help from ACORN, who continue post-Spitzer to be screwed by Wall Street, who would have suffered deeply under the policies of a Republican administration if Edwards had been the nominee when his affair came out…and who really need the ACA, which an unrecused Thomas will certainly rule against?

The big, powerful people who do this are better able to protect themselves, yes, but they’re precisely the folks whose untimely passing from political power can do the most damage to the lives of the real everyday people. I’m not saying this because I expect them to exercise a sexual control that ordinary people don’t — in my comment a couple of threads down I talk about how expecting humans, especially people in power, never to fuck around is unrealistic as hell. But a thought, please, for the people who don’t have the same ability and resources as Weiner to take care of themselves and whose lives may be made measurably worse because of this.

When they can’t find a job because serious people think it’s important to try Hooverism again, they feel about themselves, not “Paul Krugman said something mean about me” bad, but “I’m a failure who can’t pay his bills” bad.

Exactly. Since being laid off at the end of 2009, it’s been a constant struggle not to feel like a loser because I was laid off in the first place and because I don’t have another job yet in the second place. It is one of the most humiliating experiences to be let go after working for the same company for 20 years.

Why don’t we ever see female politicians involved in these types of idiotic lapses of sexual judgement? Is the need to indulge in powertrip risk taking a guy thing? Are they better at the art of discretion?

I know there must be at least one living-memory case of a female elected official indulging in this type of alpha-male nude tightrope walk, but I’m honestly drawing a blank.

“We had intended to report on those 5 young American men lost in Iraq today, the implications of the 9.1% unemployment and the two key countries on the brink, Yemen and Syria…that changed in a matter of moments. Now more on the confessions of Anthony Weiner.”

@FeFiFo: Well, there was Helen Chenoweth, who was one of Bill Clinton’s penis’s biggest critics while having a certain ability to keep her own legs crossed outside of her marriage. But that exception is so weak as to strengthen the rule.

People with money and power will be fine. Every now and then, one will run a company into the ground, defrauding investors and employees of billions, and feel so bad that he dies of a broken heart.

Good lord. That Peggy Noonan article has to be the most contemptible pile of tripe I’ve seen in a while. Can you imagine someone writing “People need second chances, and thirds, and fourths.” in the WSJ in defense of a rapist? Or hell, someone caught with crack cocaine?

The fact that people like Noonan simply cannot comprehend the seriousness of Lay’s crimes really speaks to how the masters of the universe understand the world. I can only assume that since Noonan does not have to worry about money, she cannot comprehend how devastating white collar crime can be.

@FeFiFo: Well, there was Helen Chenoweth, who was one of Bill Clinton’s pee-pee’s biggest critics while having a certain inability to keep her own legs crossed outside of her marriage. But that exception is so weak as to strengthen the rule.

I don’t think we should assume she’s doing just fine based on a few quotes in a news story. I also don’t think we should be plotting her future in journalism for her, just as the Post and Politico and the rest of them should not be hassling her.

On the Political Sex Scandal Richter Scale, I’m still not altogether sure why this even registers at all. Given what we know, Weiner shared adult content with women he met online. They were adults and the interactions were consensual. He didn’t commit adultery (Ensign), he didn’t hire prostitutes (Vitter, Spitzer), he didn’t solicit anyone in an airport bathroom (Craig), he didn’t pretend to be someone else in order to try to pick up women (Lee), he didn’t abandon his office for a rendezvous with his lover (Sanford), he didn’t leave his first two wives after they got sick (Gingrich), he didn’t have a child with his housekeeper (Schwarzenegger), there’s no sex tape (Edwards), and no interns were involved (Clinton). He’s not even a hypocrite — Weiner has never championed conservative “family values,” condemning others for their “moral failings.”*

As Doug says, it’s not your fault, Chat Noir. And that’s what’s heartbreaking to me about the recession, our national employment situation. We’ve had 30 years of getting rid of jobs, weakening and demonizing unions, etc. It was systemic, it was on purpose. And so many people, millions, are struggling, and they all are made to feel as if it’s their own fault, some personal failing. It isn’t, but thinking of millions all feeling that way in their own indvividual lives is a sad thing to think of. Be strong, best to you.

She’s handled it with unusual aplomb, I don’t apologize for respecting that. I work with a lot of younger people and, about one out of ten you meet, you say “this person kicks ass, I would hire this person”. I’d say that about her.

The missing thing about this, as someone just mentioned on MSNBC is that Breitbart says he has other, more compromising photos, of Weiner. What’s the odds on him dribbling those photos out over the next few weeks/months, or holding them over Weiner’s head to keep him quiet?

Weiner just gave Breitbart the farm with this. Sherrod-gate is no more, all anyone will remember for the next year or so is that he successfully outed Weiner as a perv, and that means he’s the goddamned most Brilliant Truthteller and Journalist in forever.

And that means we get to look forward to unchallenged ratfucking up to the election.

I think people need to be reminded, on a frequent basis, just what an amoral sack of shit Noonan is, and how she is so typical of the media “personalities” that producers have on their Rolodexes to provide depraved opinions on cable “news” shows.

Niki Haley, off the top of my head. IIRC, there was a Republican Congresswoman who got famously bitchy about Clinton-Lewinsky and then it came out she was having an affair herself, but I can’t remember her name. Rumors of infidelity by Sarah Palin have been swirling for years, but since the Queen can do no wrong, no one has really looked into them.

You arrogant son-of-a-bitch. We are currently engaged in a battle for the life of the United States. Are we going to continue down the path to a third world nation or are we finally going to turn this shit around. You are one of the few Democrats that actually was a reliable voice for improvement. And now you have pissed that away – AND FOR WHAT? Do you clowns in DC live in such a bubble of ass-kissers that you think young women are just dieing for a picture of your dick? Are you so self-involved that you can completely ignore your wife, your family and your country?

So what are you going to do now smart guy? Quit & allow some blew dog Democrat or a real Republican take your seat? I hope you stay but, of course, your voice will always be accompanied with “dick-picture-tweeter” and you know the right will use that to avoid having to defend the crap they have in store for us.

Really, based on a few tweets? Two weeks ago I would have said that Anthony Weiner, based on his confident public persona, “kicks ass,” at least in certain ways. I’ve also met people who put on a good public face but were hurting underneath it all. I think we should be cautious about drawing conclusions about Ms. Cordova.

If Weiner truly was technically faithful to his wife throughout all their marriage, then I think Weinergate has ushered into the spotlight a fascinating, technology-driven debate regarding the “new cheating”: cyber-infidelity. I predict a CNN special.

@shortstop: It’s a strange thing that in discussions of the fake, racist, and surrendercrat takedown of ACORN, nobody ever talked about what they actually did for poor communities and what would happen in their absence with no remaining coordinated national advocacy.

@kay: well said. Too bad overly emotional bloggers don’t understand that. The ususal suspects are already screaming about how can she be going after a “progressive hero” when she took impeachment off the table.

you don’t, you risk your credibility doing it, sure, but at least said person has a defense structure if they happen to be wrongly accused of something.

Imagine if Obama’s supporters had sit back when people were accusing him of being anti-American during the Rev. Wright saga. Would he be President today if there was no pushback from supporters? I don’t know.

And there was a risk that a tape would come out of him saying “America sucks because of white people” or something. It’s a risk you take, but the left fights for a much weaker position and needs all the backup it can get.

@Chat Noir: As someone who has been exactly where you are now, up until very recently, I sincerely hope your break comes soon.

We are all of us ordinary people, “losers” in the game these assholes are playing, at least, if they get their way. Not sure how much longer we can shove the unemployed and underemployed under the deficit panic rug.

i didn’t ride high and mighty to weiner’s defense. i was however extremely skeptical, because the name brietbart was attached to it. i will be next time. i don’t think there will be any long term damage, other than elevating brietbart from pond scum to brackish swamprat

@OzoneR: Yep. It will pretty much play out that the Dems will just resign at the allegation. Although my guess is that there is a caveat here…bloggers should only ignore rumors being spread about Dems Michael Kay doesn’t like. Progressive heros and whatnot.

Yep. It will pretty much play out that the Dems will just resign at the allegation. Although my guess is that there is a caveat here…bloggers should only ignore rumors being spread about Dems Michael Kay doesn’t like. Progressive heros and whatnot.

Cory Booker, who had aggressively defended Weiner, said this evening “I’d rather be wrong than cynical”

I think it makes sense. Having no pushback from supporters is why Shirley Sherrod got canned. The Ag Dept. saw a firestorm in the works.

if we’re just sitting around with extinguishers waiting to see if the fire is arson or not, why wouldn’t Dems just abandon the building?

Imagine if Obama’s supporters had sit back when people were accusing him of being anti-American during the Rev. Wright saga. Would he be President today if there was no pushback from supporters? I don’t know.

That’s not in any way analogous to the Weiner-twit. It’s not even the same category of activity or locus of accusations.

That would be more like Breitbart / Swiftboaters showing some e-mail or fax or letter or whatever from Obama to someone (a younger follower he didn’t know well?) with Obama saying or doing something, um, inappropriately maybe un-American(?). A photo of him holding a lighter underneath a US flag but not actually lighting it, as a joke.

(I can’t off the top of my head make this any more parallel to the Weiner sort of sexually-related e-bothering.)

And defending Obama or not would have zero impact on whether or not the communication was real; though I guess you’d take all the steps to make it known how Swiftboater was a completely non-credible and repeatedly fraudulent source.

Instead you’d focus mostly on trying to get people to understand that it was an obvious joke. (Again, if you can make this more similar to someone sending uninvited and contextually more than inappropriate sexuallish photos, go ahead.)

Going all out to at first claim it wasn’t true rather than some demand of having it be proven makes you look like idiots and partisan hacks and not credible yourselves — if it turned out to be true complete with tearful apology by Obama.

@Mike Kay (True Grit):
Good point. Weiner as “progressive hero” is baffling to me. He’s a cable news liberal. If I lived in his district, I’d be more than happy to vote for a decent alternative Dem. in the primary. I’m all for second and third chances, but that applies to your private life. I hope for his sake his wife, family and friends forgive him. As far as his public life goes, he’s a fool who humiliated himself and he should go away. It’s not just the sexual nature of the photo(s), it’s the juvenile nature of it all. He’s embarrassed that he got caught, but obviously he wasn’t embarrassed about sending the goofy pictures in the first place. No dignity, and no class.

If I lived in his district, I’d be more than happy to vote for a decent alternative Dem. in the primary.

Anthony Weiner hasn’t faced a primary since 1998, when he won the open seat beating two even more Palestinian-hating Democrats.

This is Jewish Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, Electchester, Kew Gardens Hills, Oakland Gardens, Midwood, Brighton Beach. This is cop and firefighter-populated Rockaway, Howard Beach, Middle Village, Maspeth, Marine Park, Mill Basin. This is probably the most right wing Democratic district in the country. Obama performed eight points worse in this district than he did statewide in New York.

@OzoneR:
I’m not sure what your point is. Are you saying he’s the only Dem. who can win in that district? If so then that’s fine. But if that’s the case, then it would seem a moderate Rep. could beat him, if there is any fallout from this scandal.

@OzoneR: you know on 2nd thought, I think more thought is needed on this issue.

lets be real, bloggers didn’t come to his defense because he’s a Democrat, or even because they loath Breitbart, but because they like Weiner for his rants (certainly not his voting record).

but what if Weiner was disliked or a low profile, unknown pol — the blogosphere’s response would have been mild if not non existent. I mean, the blogosphere didn’t run to defend Charlie Rangel over his financial issues. And unlike Weiner, Rangel voted against the Iraq invasion, and he doesn’t demoize Palestinians.

But we should think about this. Should the blogosphere mount a vigorous defense every time a Dem is under fire, even if the Dem isn’t well known or well liked?

It’s something to think about, because right now, there is no consistency, no strategy. It’s all ad hoc.

I certainly wouldn’t blame her if he is damaging the work that needs to be done. The only person to be mad at – the dipshit that made all of this trouble, the moron that allows Dimbart to crow like the tiny cock he is, the self-obsessed dick who put his ego ahead of everything else – is the little Wiener himself.

@Mike Kay (True Grit):
For the true believers no matter the political persuasion, rhetoric is all that matters. This became obvious to me in ’08 when progressives went gaga over John Edwards who was talking a great game about poverty etc. but had a reliable Blue Dog voting record in the Senate. Hell, I still see Ron Paul sign from the last election around town. There’s a guy who has been in Congress forever and hasn’t accomplished a damn thing other than bring home some pork for his district. But he’s a “libertarian hero”. Go figure. Too many people who are political junkies don’t care enough about what gets done. They just want their anger validated by their leaders. Weiner is good at that.

Breitbart up until this point had a 100% fail rate and was still getting 24/7 media hoover action on his dick.

But now?

The media has been looking for anything they can sell to make him “legitimate” and until now they’ve had to reference him in ways that make anyone but the low-information voters go “that lying jackass?”

Now, however he has one hit and if we’ve seen anything from the media with regards to conservatives who stumble on one genuine information break, this is bad bad news.

I mean, look at Drudge’s status after his one win and the media wasn’t so utterly desperately to make him their star as they have been for Breitbart.